Postgame Quotes - January 27, 2012

Pistons vs Hawks

(On not fouling in final seconds of regulation) - “Well, it really goes back to this, we hit the bucket with 39 seconds to go, they’re walking the ball up the court and we don’t get mad stub and we gave Marvin Williams the three, and now six becomes three. We had a foul to give, obviously we wanted to foul but we didn’t foul. We kicked the game there is no doubt about that, it’s obviously a game we should have won, we didn’t and obviously it is very disappointing. Yet another group performance that gets wasted and not in win town. Like I said, during tough times like this, mistakes are made. That is when you’re a group it is easy to support your guys, this is the growing pains, obviously no one wanted to lose the game, we put ourselves in a position up six with 39.8 to go and we lost the game.”

(On tonight and if it’s considered losing on your terms as it was against Miami) - “Well I think obviously Joe Johnson set that third quarter, we gave up 28 points in that third quarter and Johnson obviously was not going to keep just the two points like he did in the first half. They were scoring on their terms in the third quarter, specifically Johnson. Late on helps, not up on screens, whether it was on pin downs or pick and rolls, but I thought that group, Walker (Russell), and Rodney (Stuckey) that got us up to 78-70 and gave us a nice lift and then the moment of truth in that last six minutes of the game. That is when we have to make winning plays and we left them out of there again.”

(On not fouling) - “For me I go back to the fact that we make a bucket, literally they were just walking the ball, and we couldn’t get matched up and that is when we gave (Marvin) Williams the three and then, what I think happens, it’s late game situations, you know the moment and guys get caught up and we did not execute what we wanted to do. Obviously we executed it against Portland up three but we did not execute this time and the fact is we never should have even been in that position but we were and we didn’t get the job done.”

(On mindset going in overtime) - "Basically you can't think about it, which is what happened. We have to try and focus on overtime, try to think about what we can do in overtime and play these five minutes tough."

(On losing concentration in overtime) - "As a team, I think it was a little bit demoralizing when he (Joe Johnson) hit that shot, but that's something we can't do in the future. We need to keep plugging, keep playing. We controlled most of the game, so we just have to continue plugging away, no matter if it's overtime or not."

(On foul to give in fourth quarter) - "I know we talked about it a little bit. I think we just decided to play it straight up and he (Joe Johnson) ended up hitting a good shot."

(On frustration of controlling whole game) - "It's frustrating, but we have another game tomorrow. That's the biggest thing about this league; you might be frustrated with one game, but there's nothing you can do to change that, we learn from it, look at it briefly. We can see we're getting better as a team. As a unit, we're competing now. We use what we learn in today's game and try to put what we learned into tomorrow's game."

(On the game) - "To me it’s just an unbelievable win. I told the guys coming into this game that would be the best 4-15 team we will ever face. I have been watching this Pistons team; they play hard, they’ve been in games down the stretch. For us, it was a gutsy performance. We were literally dead in the water. I thought in that fourth quarter we hit a bad bump. We came out in the third quarter, picked it up with a little bit more energy and we got back into it. It seemed like we couldn't get over the hump. We tied the score and then gave up a three-point basket to (Jason) Maxiell. But as the game progressed our guys just kept fighting and then Joe (Johnson) hit the big shot in regulation. We scored the first two baskets in overtime and you could kind of see that just kind of deflated them a little bit. But, just a big-time performance from our guys."

(On last minutes of regulation) - "We just wanted to just to kind of hang in there. We hit a bad stretch in that fourth period but I still felt that if we got some good looks, got some guys to knock a couple of threes down we'll still be right there. Then Marvin (Williams) hit a big three and it gave us hope. In those tight situations, it really shows your character to see what you're made of. As I mentioned, for a minute it looked like we were dead in the water but our guys kept fighting and kept persevering through the tough times and come out with a big, big win against a very scrappy, blue-collar basketball club which this Pistons team is. They really played hard and I give Lawrence (Frank) credit. He's got this team playing really hard. They are much better than what their record is."

(On fourth quarter) - "Fourth quarter we were able to come up with a few loose balls and a couple big shots to get back in it."

(On leading team) - "I just wanted to be aggressive especially once we got that chance to go in overtime. I know we had a chance. I really wanted to kind of validate that and be aggressive in the overtime. I wasn't looking for my shot, I was making plays for other guys."

(On game-tying shot) - "Honestly, when I got the steal I was reading up court. I didn’t know if he (Coach Drew) wanted us to call a time out or not. I saw there was nobody calling a time out so I was kind of trying to look my man off. He was relaxed so I could get a shot but he wouldn't. I tried to back him down a little bit behind the three and try to pop back up so I could shoot and I was able to shoot a turn around three and I made it."

"We all came in here at halftime and said we're going to put the first half behind us and play with a lot of energy and a lot more effort in the second half and I really think we did it."

(On his shooting performance) - "Hopefully I can say that I will have better nights than this one but I think so far this is probably the best it’s felt since I’ve been shooting. Guys got me the ball and I was able to knock down shots."

(On overtime three pointer) - "Kirk (Hinrich) threw it to me and I turned. No one was even running towards me so the biggest thing I wanted to do was just slow down and take my time. Once I realized that I had enough time to get it off I really took my time and was able to make a good shot."